Institute for Translational Research Education in Adolescent Substance Use (ITRE)
National Advisory Board
The purpose of the National Advisory Board will be to support the ITRE's progress to oversee the larger vision of the Institute. The NAB Members will serve as Content Experts for the graduate certificate coursework and help define and conduct curriculum that will expose our Scholars to national perspectives.
Current NAB Members
Julie Baldwin, Ph.D.
Bio
Dr. Julie A. Baldwin is a Regents Professor of Health Sciences at Northern Arizona University and Executive Director of the Center for Community Health and Engaged Research. A citizen of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma, she leads communitypartnered, translational research to strengthen adolescent behavioral health, substance use prevention, and family wellbeing in rural and Indigenous settings.
Trained in molecular biology and public health, she has directed federally funded initiatives supporting youth substance use and HIV prevention and addictions research training, including the Culturally-Centered Addictions Research Training (CCART) Program.
She serves as principal investigator of a large NIMHDsupported Southwest regional research collaborative and was inducted into the National Academy of Medicine in 2023.
Richard Dembo, Ph.D.
Bio
Dr. Richard Dembo is a Professor of Criminology at the 做厙TV in Tampa whose research focuses on adolescent substance use, delinquency, and the translation of evidence-based interventions into juvenile justice settings.
Trained as a sociologist, he has published more than 300 scholarly works examining links among drug use, mental health, and youth offending. He has led multiple federally funded, longitudinal intervention studies for at-risk and high-risk youth and served as a principal investigator on national initiatives, including NIDAs JJTRIALS.
An AAAS Fellow and Fellow of the Mississippi State University Social Science Research Center, Dr. Dembo applies advanced data analytics to improve services and outcomes for justice-involved youth.
Michael L. Dennis, Ph.D.
(Chair of National Advisory Board)
Bio
Dr. Michael L. Dennis is a psychologist and Chief Research Officer at Chestnut Health Systems, where he leads the Lighthouse Institutes communitybased research on behavioral health, substance use, and justiceinvolved youth and families. Trained in research methods at Northwestern University under an NIH fellowship, his work focuses on implementing and testing interventions that improve realworld practice.
He has served as principal investigator or coinvestigator on numerous federally funded trials, including JJTRIALS and studies on substance use treatment, recovery support, and technologyassisted interventions for adolescents and young adults.
Dr. Dennis codeveloped Recovery Management Checkups and the Global Appraisal of Individual Needs (GAIN), widely used tools that strengthen screening, treatment planning, and longterm outcome monitoring across systems of care.
John Lowe, Ph.D., RN, FAAN
Bio
Dr. John Lowe is the Joseph Blades Centennial Memorial Professor and the former Director of the Indigenous Nursing Research Enhancement (INRE) Post-Doctoral Fellowship Program at The University of Texas at Austin School of Nursing.
He is a national leader in research focused on preventing and reducing substance use and behavioral health disorders among Native American and Indigenous adolescents and young adults. An enrolled member of the Echota Cherokee Tribe of Alabama and the Lenape Indian Tribe of Delaware, he has developed culturally grounded, evidencebased interventions, including the first manualized Talking Circle program for youth substance use and mental health prevention. His NIH, SAMHSA, and RWJFfunded research advances communitybased approaches that translate traditional knowledge into effective, scalable prevention strategies.
Dr. Lowe has held national advisory roles, and his work has been recognized for its impact on youth's wellbeing and behavioral health practice.
Aaron R. Lyon, Ph.D.
Bio
Dr. Aaron R. Lyon is a Professor in the University of Washington Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Co-Director of the SMART Center, and a licensed clinical child psychologist. He also co-directs the UW ALACRITY Center and leads the Research Institute for Implementation Science in Education.
Dr. Lyons work focuses on improving the reach and effectiveness of school and communitybased behavioral health interventions for children and adolescents. His research emphasizes implementation strategies, measurement-based care, and human-centered design to strengthen the adoption and sustained use of evidence-based practices within multi-tiered support systems.
He is the principal investigator on multiple federally funded studies advancing practical, scalable behavioral health solutions for youth and families.
Kenneth J. Martinez, Psy.D.
Bio
Dr. Kenneth J. Mart穩nez is a retired child psychologist and former Principal Researcher at the American Institutes for Research with a long career advancing adolescent behavioral health through datainformed, communitybased, and systemslevel approaches. He served as New Mexicos State Childrens Behavioral Health Director and has been a longstanding faculty member in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center.
Dr. Mart穩nez held national leadership roles, including past Chair of the Children, Youth and Families Division of the National Association of State Mental Health Program Directors, representing the 50 states and territories. He developed Community Defined Evidence, a framework for identifying and translating effective local practices into broader behavioral health systems.
He has advised states, school districts, and federal programs on improving behavioral health services for youth, including those involved in juvenile justice, and has testified before Congress on childrens mental health needs.
Rachel Shelton, ScD, MPH
Bio
Dr. Rachel Shelton is a Professor of Sociomedical Sciences at Columbia University and a leading social and behavioral scientist specializing in dissemination, implementation, and communitybased research.
With more than 16 years of experience, her work uses qualitative and mixed-methods approaches to understand how evidence-based interventions are adopted, sustained, and adapted in clinical and community settings.
She is CoDirector for Translational and Implementation Science at the Irving Institute for Clinical and Translational Research and Director of Columbias Implementation Science Initiative.
Dr. Shelton has led multiple federally funded studies, published over 160 peerreviewed articles, and trained hundreds of researchers and practitioners nationally and internationally. Her work advances practical strategies for translating research into realworld behavioral health and prevention practice.
Charles Mendez, III
Bio
Charles Mendez III is Managing Director of the C.E. Mendez Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated since 1975 to preventing substance use, bullying, and violence among children and adolescents.
The Foundation develops and disseminates the nationally recognized, evidence-based Too Good for Drugs and Too Good for Violence programs, which build social-emotional skills and protective factors for students in grades K12.
Mr. Mendezs work focuses on translating prevention research into practical, age-appropriate strategies for implementation in real-world settings. He partners with community coalitions, schools, behavioral health agencies, state governments, and universities to strengthen the quality, reach, and sustainability of substance use prevention efforts for youth.
Enya B. Vroom, PhD
Bio
Dr. Enya B. Vroom is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Medicine at the University of Texas Health San Antonio and a behavioral health services researcher specializing in implementation science. She is also a Core Scholar at the Center for Research to Advance Community Health and faculty at the Be Well Institute for Substance Use and Related Disorders.
Dr. Vroom is trained in qualitative and mixed-methods research, with a focus on identifying barriers and developing strategies to adopt, implement, and sustain substance use treatment and recovery support services in community settings. Her work also emphasizes building workforce capacity to translate evidence-based practices into routine care.
Dr. Vroom was an ITRE Scholar in cohort #4 and served as a peer or academic mentor for ITRE Scholars in cohorts #5-9.
Past NAB Members
Dean L. Fixsen, PhD
Junius J. Gonzales, MD, MBA
Mario Hernandez, PhD
Roger Peters, PhD
Jennifer P. Wisdom, PhD, MPH
The Institute for Translational Research Education in Adolescent Substance Use is supported by the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health under award number R25DA031103.